DOG DAY AFTERNOON

The PDSA produced a well being report in 2012. These are some of the highlights: Dogs have five basic welfare needs;         Environmental         Diet         Behaviour         Companionship         Health Now some interesting stats; 53% of UK households have pets 23% of UK households have dogs (thats 8.5 million dogs) 27% of UK households have cats Obesity is a major concern in canines and the problem is pardon the pun growing. When surveyed, owners revealed that the reasons why they feed their pets treats are as follows; 1% as a result of a TV advertisement 8% said their pet ‘looked’ hungry 9% were guilty of leaving them on their own 14% were because the pet was begging 13% gave their dog a treat because they were having a treat themselves 29% said it made the owner hap...

I spotted this post on Dr Sophia Yin’s blog and thought it might be useful to anyone out there who is thinking of getting a dog. Some of it could apply to picking a puppy as well. Dr Sophia Yin is a renowned Veterinarian and Animal Behaviourist Adopting a Dog: Some Dogs are Easier Than Others Posted On: Sunday, May 19th, 2013 By Dr. Sophia Yin Have you heard this statement from so many people that it seems like it's an epidemic? "We had a Labrador mix when I was a kid and he was perfect. How come our new dog is so much harder? Is it the inbreeding?" Or does the statement go more like this, “We got Lucky from the shelter and she’s so calm. Then we adopted Nero 2 years later as a playmate for her. He’s the same breed and age that she is, but he’s just hyper and crazy! We don’t know what to do with him! The problem here is that while we humans realize that dogs come in more sizes and styles than Versace shoes, we often fail to acknowledge that dogs come with equal...

An article publish in the Kennel Club Accredited Instructors Scheme newsletter ‘The Standard’ talks about this years latest fad ‘Yellow ribbons’. The editor Annie writes as follows; “The buzz words this year have certainly been ‘yellow’ and ‘ribbon’. Put them together and you get the latest fad of tying a yellow ribbon to the dog’s lead. Why? Because you, the owner, feel that your dog needs space. The yellow ribbon is supposedly for the dogs safety and well-being. You tie it on the lead to show the world the dog is post-op, unwell, in season, old and grumpy, nervous, a pup in training, etc. and i don’t deny these are all laudable reasons on paper. However yellow ribbons plus any one of the above reasons means you are placing the dogs welfare on the shoulders of the general public and this is neither fair nor is it right. The owner/handler is the person who is both morally and legally responsible for the welfare and behaviour of the dog at all times; well or unwell, young or old, in tr...

The Pack Rules theory was created in order to prevent the domestic dog from becoming the ‘Alpha Leader’ of the pack in the home. The ‘Alpha Leader’ would dominate the rest of the pack by intimidation. But where did this theory of dominance come from? According to Barry Eaton in his book “Dominance in Dogs ”, Dominance theory comes about from the following steps. Wolf social structure is entirely explained by a linear dominace hierarchy in which there is a constant battle to be alpha dog and dominate the rest of the pack. Domestic dogs are descended from wolves so the same must apply to them. Domestic dogs are trying to dominate us. We should issue a preemptive strike and dominate dogs by enforcing strict rules harshly. Lets look at number one from the list above. This idea of a linear hierarchy producing the ‘Alpha wolf’ came from studies published by Rudolph Schenkel a prominent Swiss Biologist and Behaviourist. These studies were based on a population of captive w...

This is a piece written by Andy Weir. The Egg By: Andy Weir You were on your way home when you died. It was a car accident. Nothing particularly remarkable, but fatal nonetheless. You left behind a wife and two children. It was a painless death. The  EMTs  tried their best to save you, but to no avail. Your body was so utterly shattered you were better off, trust me. And that’s when you met me. “What… what happened?” You asked. “Where am I?” “You died,” I said, matter-of-factly. No point in mincing words. “There was a… a truck and it was skidding…” “Yup,” I said. “I… I died?” “Yup. But don’t feel bad about it. Everyone dies,” I said. You looked around. There was nothingness. Just you and me. “What is this place?” You asked. “Is this the afterlife?” “More or less,” I said. “Are you god?” You asked. “Yup,” I replied. “I’m God.” “My kids… my wife,” you said. “What about them?” “Will they be all right?” “That’s what I like to see,” I said. ...

Our house has been blessed with a new arrival in the last few months. My new grandson has moved in just as he’s starting to move around. Its been some 20 odd years since our house had a wee one crawling around the floor, getting into everything, picking things up etc. We had let our house become child unfriendly. Despite knowing he was coming we hadn't really prepared properly. So I was intrigued when an article appeared in the August issue of Your Dog about how owners go about preparing, selecting and bringing in a new puppy to their house. The emphasis of the article was more related to what research owners put in prior to getting a puppy. the article was written based on research carried out by Adaptil - The pheromone calming product range for dogs. The research took the form of a survey of 2000 puppy owners and some of the questions and answers were very interesting. 1 in 10 people thought that getting a new puppy was just like raising a child. 59% admitted that they wer...

Dogs CAN see in colour: Scientists dispel the myth that canines can only see in black and white ·                                  Russian scientists found that dogs have a limited colour range in their vision ·                                  Canines use these colours to distinguish between items By   VICTORIA WOOLLASTON PUBLISHED:   10:25, 23 July 2013   |   UPDATED:   11:15, 23 July 2013 There's a common misconception that dogs can only see in monochrome and use varying brightness levels to identify the outlines of items.   Yet Russian scientists have now proved not only do dogs have a limited colour range, they use this ...